About a month or so ago, I burned up two old hot-air corn poppers. I use them for two very different functions. First, to shrink-wrap the capsules I put on the necks of my wine bottles. Secondly, I had been using them to roast coffee beans. I enjoyed roasting the coffee beans, however, during roasting, a chaff would get thrown out of the corn popper and I would have to place a large cookie sheet next to it to collect the chaff. I mentioned my need for a new corn-popper to the guy who runs the coffee roasting business around the corner from me, so he handed me his original coffee roasting machine, told me to take it home, try it out and if I liked it, I could buy it for $50. It's an i-Roast 2. I love it! and went back 2 days later and gladly gave him the $50. New ones are selling online for between $150-$200. I programmed it to roast greens beans just the way I like it - brown, but just starting to get shiny. I've come to really like Ethiopian beans - they have a mild chocolate character. If this interests anyone, here is a great link about roasting coffee: http://www.sweetmarias.com/roasting-VisualGuideV2.php

I can't remember how much I've said here about coffee roasting. I bought a popcorn popper specifically so I could roast coffee beans with it. I ran into trouble because it had a thermostat, so that the coffee could never get to a dark enough color, it was always mild. I know you can modify the thermostat but it's a little tricky and a little dangerous afterward. Fortunately I got my neighbors involved and eventually they bought a coffee roaster, one recommended by Sweet Maria.

So the deal is that I buy green beans and they roast them. I only need a batch about once a week because I reserve that for the office, where I make a blend with some good Colombian.

They also roast outside because of the chaff and smoke. I think it smells great. Of course if you get distracted at the wrong moment you can get City++, scorchy black stuff. Even that can taste pretty good. I mostly get central American beans from Sweet Maria. Some day I ought to get my own roaster. But my neighbors are into it whole hog, also have an espresso machine that cost hundreds of dollars...

Yes, I've had beans from Nicaragua, Guatemala and Mexico and like them (I'm sipping a Mexican coffee now). Also, from the Indonesian islands - Flores, in particular are very nice. It's almost like wine, with different flavors depending on where they're grown.

I buy my beans from a small roaster around the corner from me: http://newdaycoffeeroasters.com/. Russ, the owner, and I have become friends. He's attempting to grow wine grapes in his yard and I gave him some hybrid cuttings after all his Cab Franc died. Yesterday I picked a pound each of Ethiopian and Colombian (green) and Ethiopian and Dark Night blend (roasted). He ships also. I never bought from Sweet Marie's, but their website has lots of good roasting info.

UPDATE: I've pretty much narrowed my coffee down to two types. I buy roasted Ethiopian Natural Sidoma, because it is difficult for me to roast this variety properly myself. The coffee beans are small and throw off a lot of chaff, plugging up the screen in my roaster, thus limiting the air flow and slowing the circulation of the beans - I've had some burn, while others were still light brown, so I use the ones Russ roasts. I love it - med-light roast with a hint of chocolate! However, I did a new program that is great for Colombian - not too much high heat and longer roasting time - dark brown and shiny, but almost no smoke generated. Excellent full bodied coffee, in both the auto drip and the espresso maker.

I have no idea how I missed this thread the first time. I have been roasting for years. It's been so long I don't even remember when I started. My first roaster was the original Fresh Roast. It was fun but the batch size was small and the roast too quick. Too hard to control for lighter roasts. Switched to a Gene Cafe and have never looked back. Not sure how long it takes your i-Roast but an 8 ounce batch in my Gene Cafe takes about 15 minutes for City +. Ethiopian (even DP) are not a problem. The chaff collector is very large and far removed from the heat source and does not impact roasting. There are still the quaker beans but that is just Ethiopian but the eveness of the roast is much better than I ever got out of my Fresh Roast.

The I-Roast has 2 pre-programmed roasts, both of which are too dark for my preferences. I can also create up to 10 programs, for a total of 15 minutes, plus 4 minutes cooling each. I can load it with about 1 cup of green beans per batch, which almost double in size during roasting. The chaff collector/screen is located at the top of the unit, where the hot air discharges. I discussed the problem with the Ethiopian beans with Russ (the local roaster who sold me the unit) and he suggested doing smaller batches. I may try them again, but he does such a nice job with them, that I may just stick with buying his roast Ethiopian.BTW - The program I made for the Colombian does 6 minutes at 400 Degf, 4 minutes at 375 and 5 minutes at 350.

Howie - question on the capsules. Why use the popper for that? I'd have thought that a regular heat gun (like we use in automotive work on electrical shrink wrap) would be faster and would certainly be more durable.

A heat gun will work fine. I used to have one - then someone borrowed it and I never got it back. I've found that the hot air corn popper works just as well, can be found in second hand stores for about $5 and nobody borrows it. However, right now I have neither, so I'm using a pot of boiling water for now.